Using your axe on the trail

I actually have an electric chainsaw and love it. I’ve cut up a few trees in my yard and it just goes & goes.

 

I encounter a lot of deadfall/blowdown on the roads I travel in the mountains, it can be a trip ender going in or even worse going out! As much as I'd like to carry a chainsaw everywhere, it's not practical and they smell- sooooooo instead I carry a large Silky folding saw- very large . It's their Katanaboy 500.

$239 Silky KATANABOY Professional 500mm Folding Saw XL Teeth (403-50)

https://www.amazon.com/Silky-Profes...5YCQSKC7REJ&psc=1&refRID=GHFJYMVEM5YCQSKC7REJ

I also carry a couple of small wedges and a Fiscar's small axe; with these I'm able to remove pretty large trees- in a very respectable time; not as fast as a chainsaw, but cheaper, takes less room and doesn't smell

 

Silky Katanaboy 650, axe, and a few wedges. Sometimes the chainsaw comes if I know there will be trees, maybe it will come more now that I have a bigger truck.

 

^ now that's an even bigger folding saw! I've run a ton of different saws and nothing cuts as good as a Silky

 

I carry an axe and a shovel. I got the axe for $20 new and the shovel for $20 too. They are solid and quality tools. I pretty much exclusively camp. I'm not huge into Overlanding right now and I could care less about "the gram". I have a 90 pound German Shepherd that rides in a kennel in my flat bed. Made sense to mount on the outside of the bed rack. I have used both heavily in my camping adventures.

 

Heads up to anyone with the Fiskars axe.. I owned the ~25" model, broke on my 2nd or 3rd time using it. The head snapped clean off. Contacted fiskars and sent pictures and they required that I ship the axe and peices to them(out of my pocket) and then they would decide whether or not to replace or refund me. I was not impressed. Next will be a standard wood handled fireman's style axe.

 

That's really unfortunate to hear. I have beat the crap out of mine and it always sharpens up and keeps working. You may have had a dud.

Regardless, it is always frustrating when a company REQUIRES you to ship it back to them for a warranty claim. I find that irritating, especially since it would be an international shipment. It would probably be cheaper for you to buy a brand new Fiskars than to pay the postage.

 

Not hard to hang an axe with a wood handle.
I polish mine with BLO and seal with beeswax. Makes it waterproof, durable, and a little tacky so it doesn't slip in your hands.

 

Fiskars doesn’t make real axes. You want a Council Tool ax with a real hardwood handle at a minimum.

 

exactly, shipping for a 3lb axe will be about the same as a new one.

 

To axe or not to axe, you can blame the United States Army. When they wrote the spec for the original 1/4 ton utility vehicle (Jeep) the wanted a shovel and an axe mounted. Turned out they were a good idea. Still are today. As the old saying goes it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

All that being said, what tools you should have on board should be determined by where and when you are going. But this needs to be tempered by you ability to use said tools. An axe in the hands of an unschooled person can cause a wicked injury, ditto a chain saw, winch, Hi-Lift etc..

 

I don't really understand the need for a hatchet or axe when you are camping. I've been backpacking and camping 100's of time and never once felt like an axe or hatchet was necessary. As a matter of fact, the one time I went with someone who brought a hatchet, they hurt themselves with it and we had to cut (pun intended) short.

 

Trees down blocking roads. I was able to pull this one out of the way to get home, but I've used my ax multiple times to clear trees and get home.

I don't think it is worth the weight backpacking. But one stays in both trucks all the time and come in handy for gathering and splitting firewood.

 

Definitely never needed it for this. But if it works for you then I don’t have a problem with it. I just personally have never needed an axe for the things people tend to use them for. Especially not for a camp fire.

 

When I do bushcraft camping, I use a boy's axe (~28") for camp construction, felling standing dead trees under 8" and splitting wood. I could get by with a stout knife for the most part, though. I prefer a smaller hatchet for backpacking, but if I'm kayaking or in the truck it doesn't cost anything to throw it in.

I'd rather use a saw than an axe on any tree thicker than 12". The Paul Bunyans can have fun with that bs.

 

I carry a 26in axe, i find it is good all around, I hate it when im splitting, and hate it when im making kindling.. but i have used it multiple times to clear things on the trail. or just beat something out of the way like a hammer.. its a good utility item. Its also not usually mounted and just laying about unsecured like a object of death.. but ya

 

I carry an axe most of the time I'm out, but I also carry a folding saw or a bow saw

I'd recommend always trying to use the saw first. If you come across a downed tree and it's dark, raining, you're tired, cold, whatever. Use the saw first if you can. An axe presents way more opportunity for a back country injury.

Extremely useful tools, but I go saw, then try to pull it with the truck, then axe if necessary.

And be very wary of machetes! I have a lovely scar on one of my legs from a deflected machete strike on a branch.

 

And hatchets. People miss the wood a lot and hit themselves in the shin.

 

Let's face it some folks shouldn't be allowed to handle sharp objects. Most often these are the one's that are the experts with said objects.

 

I can use if I need it,
But I like to throw my axe when I'm board.